Young and old, we all want to be entertained. We want to connect with the characters-feel what they feel, know what they know. But stories can do much more than entertain. As a parent you have a unique opportunity to teach your children something special each time they eagerly request, "Tell me a story."The stories in this book are tiny slices of the larger story of God and His people-a story into which you and your children are intricately woven. Use these anecdotes and illustrations to awaken their imaginations and open their hearts to their Creator.Along the way you'll find nuggets of eternal wisdom that will touch you as well as them.To know God better, to understand our place in His great ongoing story-that is the goal of the Christian life. It's up to you to tell your children God's story. As you share with them an intimate knowledge of the living God, they will begin to trust Him, to seek after Him, and to stretch out their arms for His loving embrace. Our Heavenly Father's VoiceIt began with a dream in the heart of God. Against the soundless sweep of infinity, the Great Creator shaped a world and peopled it with children made in His own image. And that world is now the stage where a great human drama is played-the Fall of the human race, its redemption, the ongoing battle between good and evil, and the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ.This ancient story of mankind belongs to us and to our children-enabling us to know meaning in our lives. God has given parents the awesome privilege-and responsibility-to instruct their children in these eternal truths. Pastor/author Max Lucado and illustrator Ron DiCianni have joined forces to create a unique work, a tool parents can use for this purpose.At a time when children are being assaulted by unholy messages from all sides, it is essential that they be grounded in their faith. Combining powerful illustrations with sensitive narrative, this book will help prepare children to be so familiar with their heavenly Father's voice that when He calls them or speaks to them, they will hear and willingly obey with joy because they have come to know Him intimately.

    Laxman profiles ten hilariously idiosyncratic people, who are among the countless men and women who run the lives of the middle class in India. The tales are put together by Ganesh, a freelance journalist trying to write a feature article on servants he has known. As his chronicle progresses, what emerges is a richly embellished narrative starring unforgettable characters. There is Swami, the cook, who finds his true vocation as a godman; Kumar, who deserts his household duties to pursue his tinsel-town dreams; Anthony, the driver, who makes money on the side by giving lifts to strangers; the maid Shanti, whose lift is thrown into turmoil by the neighbour's servant who is besotted with her; and Ramaswami, a trusted retainer who reappears mysteriously, much to the consternation of his employer, long after he has been presumed drowned. Marked by Laxman's trademark wit, and including pencil sketches drawn especially for this edition, Servants of India is a delightful read.

    The newly single mother in The Break interferes with her son's love life over his Christmas vacation from college. The anxious young man in Balloon Night persists in hosting his and his wife's annual watch-the-Macy's-Thanksgiving-Day-Parade-floats-be-inflated party, while trying to keep the myth of his marriage equally afloat. Somebody's Son, tells the story of a young man guiltily conning an elderly couple out of their home in the Adirondacks, and the young narrator in The Women watches his widowed father become the toast of Manhattan's mid-life dating scene, as he struggles to find his own footing.The characters in Stay Up with Me find new truths when the old ones have given out or shifted course. In the tradition of classic story writer like John Cheever and Tobias Wolff, Barbash laces his narratives with sharp humor, psychological acuity, and pathos, creating deeply resonant and engaging stories that pierce the heart and linger in the imagination.

    A boy suddenly finds himself haunted by the friendly ghosts of two children while being pursued by an evil being.

    But with Mimi’s strength and Parveen’s ingenuity, Hamish X and all their Wind City friends are rescued. Now, new and surprising adventures are in store for everyone, when they make their escape to ... Switzerland! Deep within the Alps, the world’s lost children have found safe haven in a hidden world. It is here, in the Hollow Mountain, where the mysteries of Hamish X, his boots, and his past will begin to unfold—if the Grey Agents don’t get to him first!

     In America during the early twentieth century, no part was safe from segregation, not even the country's national pastime, baseball. Despite their exodus from the Major Leagues because of the color of their skin, African American men still found a way to participate in the sport they loved. Author Varian Johnson shines a spotlight on the players, coaches, owners, and teams that dominated the Negro Leagues during the 1930s and 40s. Readers will learn about how phenomenal players like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and of course, Jackie Robinson greatly changed the sport of baseball.

    Often, experts were called in to investigate these apparent hauntings, and most of the time these so-called experts walked away baffled. The only thing that everyone could agree on was that something very weird had happened, something that could never be fully explained.This first book in Allan Zullo’s popular Haunted Kids series is a collection of 11 creepy tales inspired by real-life cases taken from the files of noted ghost hunters. Do ghosts really exist? Well, you’ll have to decide that for yourself after listening to:Disc 1The Devil’s GardenGrave ConsequencesThe Headless TrainmanThe Secret of Room 333The Home WreckerDisc 2The Ghost of Slow SamThe Baby-Sitting GhostThe Scaredy CatsThe Thing in the AtticThe WarningThe Glowing Ball of DeathSo, Turn Out the Lights, Turn up the Volume, and Turn Loose the Terror!

    Milne to create a quartet of charming new adventures for Winnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin, and their friends. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall: take a trip back to the Hundred Acre Wood with a collection of tales sure to delight year-round.One story finds Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet on a quest to discover the "Sauce of the Nile" (they suspect it's apple). And in another, all the animals rally around poor Eeyore when he thinks he sees another donkey eyeing his clover. The winter story features a new penguin character, based on a stuffed toy owned by Christopher Robin Milne himself. Readers of all ages will love rediscovering old friends and making new ones in this essential new volume of Pooh stories.

    And no one understands why a man with no law enforcement background has hired on with a police force that inspires more fear than trust in its citizenry. What is certain is that Maddox has been asking a lot of questions in his off-hours: about the activities of his fellow patrolmen, the disappearance of a local sex offender, and the recent incursion of crystal meth into the region. When a brutal murder shatters the isolation of this tiny hamlet, both the local cops and Maddox appear to have something to hide from the arriving state police homicide detectives. As the tightly wound mystery that is Don Maddox's past begins to fray, he finds himself ensnared in a widespread conspiracy that ultimately threatens his own life, as he learns that even the smallest of towns can harbour the deepest, deadliest secrets. Displaying the author's trademark gift for soul-deep characterization, crisp pacing, and unflinching realism, The Killig Moon is Chuck Hogan's richest, most satisfying thriller yet.

    Though years of digging yield the name of a suspect—an Iranian math genius turned terrorist—the trail seems too cold to justify further effort. Then Max turns up a photograph of the man standing alongside Osama bin Laden and a mysterious westerner whose face has been cut out, feeding Max’s suspicion. When the first official to whom Max shows the photo winds up dead, the out-of-favor agent suddenly finds himself the target of dark forces within the intelligence community who are desperate to muzzle him.Eluding a global surveillance net, Max—in the summer of 2001—begins tracking the spore of a complex conspiracy, meeting clandestinely with suicide bombers and Arab royalty and ultimately realizing the Iranian he’d sought for a decades-old crime is actually at the nexus of a terrifying plot.Showing off dazzling tradecraft and an array of richly textured backdrops, and filled with real names and events, Blow the House Down deftly balances fact and possibility to become the first great thriller to spring from the war on terrorism.Also available as a Random House AudioBook and an eBookFrom the Hardcover edition.

    A page-turning time travel adventure for ages 8-11. UK bestseller now enjoyed by thousands of young readers. When Stella and her younger brother, Tom, move to their new London home, they become mystified by the disappearances of Harry, their elderly neighbour's dog. Where does he go? And why does he keep reappearing wet-through? Their quest to solve the riddle over the summer holidays soon leads to a boat buried under a grassy mound - and a tunnel that takes them to a secret lake. Who is the boy rowing towards them? Why is he so terrified? And whose are those children's voices carried on the wind from beyond the woods? Stella and Tom soon discover that they have travelled back in time to their home and the children living there almost 100 years earlier. Here they make both friends and enemies, and uncover startling connections with the past and present...

    Seventeen-year-old Isabel Montgomery starts to receive emails from her father, a man who had abandoned her in a hotel room ten years ago when his past finally caught up with him. Why has he contacted her now? Because he needs her help and is finally ready to reveal the truth. Over the course of the next month, further emails arrive telling her more about her family's past. Isabel discovers that her father adopted a false identity in the hope of avoiding murder charges for a robbery gone wrong in 1974. By 1996, with a marriage falling apart around him, he is one last Vietnam-era fugitives still wanted by the law. When he is finally tracked down by a young newspaper reporter in search of a story he must abandon years of safe underground life in an attempt to exonerate himself. Set against the rise and fall of the radical anti-war group the Weather Underground, The Company You Keep is a sweeping American saga about sacrifice, the righteousness of youth, and the tension between political ideals and family loyalties.

    Lithe, leggy attorney and law professor Marla Cwitowitz is dying for some excitement in her life--that is, other than being the girlfriend of Al Giraud, private detective, sexy soul mate, and all-around best friend. So when she sees the potential for a crime-solving spree, she jumps at the chance to moonlight as a detective. According to the evening news, local real estate agent Laurie Martin is missing and presumed dead. Marla and Al happened to have seen her dining with an attractive man several days before her disappearance. The man is Steve Mallard, loyal husband, doting father, and prime suspect. But Marla senses that something is not quite right. And her intuition has never let her down. Believing that there's more to the story than meets the eye, she takes matters into her own hands, vowing to get to the bottom of what's beginning to look like a very complex case. Al wants Marla to stay out of the way, fearing for her safety. He knows what's involved in detective work, and he's not sure she can hold her own as an investigator. But she won't be warned off this case. Their relationship has never been more fraught with complications--or sexual sizzle. With little warning or preparation, the two find themselves crisscrossing the United States in frantic pursuit of a remorseless criminal in an effort to prove Mallard's innocence. Finally Marla's found the excitement she's been looking for. With her, it's always been all or nothing.

    The only witness to the tragedy was her boyfriend, Jason. Now, Jason has a new girlfriend. Cindy wants to trust Jason…but as secrets start to come out, she doesn’t know what to believe. And the truth just may be more horrific than anything she’d imagined.     In See You Later, Mark has fallen hard for Becky…even though she already has a boyfriend. He’s close to giving up when the mysterious Kara arrives, determined to bring Mark and Becky together. But why does Kara care so much? And just how far will Mark go for the girl he loves?

    The first four books in the Betsy-Tacy series: Betsy-Tacy, Betsy-Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go over the Big Hill, and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown.